Spanish giants top rich list

02 March 2010 09:05

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Barcelona have overtaken Manchester United in the latest rich list of European clubs.
Real Madrid still top the Deloitte Football Money League but Barca are now second ahead of United, largely because of the strength of the Euro against the pound.
There has been a nine per cent rise in income at Old Trafford but Barcelona's unprecedented 2008-09 season on the pitch, when they won the Champions League, La Liga and Copa del Rey, lifted them above the Premier League champions.
However, there are no other Spanish teams in the top 20, while current Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich are fourth.
Arsenal move above Chelsea after recording a seven per cent rise in revenue to £224million. The Blues' revenue actually fell three per cent to £206million.
Dan Jones, partner in the sports business group at Deloitte, said: "Chelsea's revenue has dropped because last season was a bit worse than usual on the pitch. They froze season ticket prices and there was not a lot going on in big new commercial developments.
"Arsenal have the advantage in match-day income with a new 60,000-seater stadium and they made the semi-finals of both the Champions League and the FA Cup.
"All the English clubs were impacted by the continuing depreciation of the pound against the euro and the scale of this is shown by the fact that, if exchange rates remained at their June 2007 level, United would be top of the money league table."